Ulster’s European hopes are hanging by a thread after a 38-19 defeat to French giants Clermont Auvergne at the Stade Marcel-Michelin.

An abject first half saw Ulster go in at the break 21-0 down having conceded three tries, and a further Camille Lopez try after the restart meant at one point Les Kiss’ men were 28 points behind.

A spirited comeback wasn’t enough to get Ulster anything from the game, and it means they need all ten points from their two remaining pool games to stand any chance of reaching the last eight.

In exactly the same fashion as last week, Clermont hit Ulster with their first attack, this time Isaia Toeava was the one who scored, breaking the line and stepping inside Tommy Bowe to go over.

What was different from last week’s game was that Ulster were not as sharp as they were in Belfast as they passed up a couple of good opportunities to level a few minutes later.

And they were made to pay handsomely as Clermont flexed their muscles and scored two quick tries, both from Nick Abendanon, to give them some considerable breathing space.

The first was a simple case of numbers as the Clermont forwards battered their way through and then the ball was spun out the backs where Abendanon finished off a considerable overlap in the corner.

The second, however, was a piece of class from fly-half Lopez, who put in a pinpoint crossfield kick and Abendanon gladly caught it and went over for his second, and Clermont’s third.

It was all falling apart for Ulster, whose confidence seemed to have evaporated, and but for Parra uncharacteristically missing a penalty on the half hour mark, they could have been further behind.

But arguably the biggest blow was just before the break as the visitors attacked the Clermont line, only to opt for a scrum from a penalty and concede a penalty themselves, ending any chance of a score.

Instead it was Clermont who picked up the next score, as Lopez intercepted a pass from Pienaar a minute after the restart and sprinted the length of the pitch for what was the bonus point try.

It looked like Ulster might never break their deadlock, especially when Sean Reidy was denied a try by the TMO as he was held up over the line, but suddenly the visitors sparked into life.

First came a score from Tommy Bowe, who had acres of space on the wing after Ulster turned the ball over at the back of a scrum, and the winger had the presence of mind to go closer to the posts for Jackson to convert.

Then on the hour mark Ulster remarkably went over again, a dominant driving maul powered its way over and taking the credit at the back was replacement hooker Rob Herring.

The crowd by this point had fallen silent and the next sound they made were howls of derision as Bowe went over for his second five minutes later, crashing over from close range after Stuart McCloskey took them close.

However, crucially, Jackson missed the conversion keeping the Ulstermen outside of losing bonus point range, although in the end it wasn’t to prove costly.

With Morgan Parra having to leave the field injured it was down to Lopez to add a penalty to secure the win, before Paddy Jackson deliberately knocked the ball on at the line with two minutes to go, giving him a yellow card, Clermont a penalty try and Ulster nothing.